Despite eight years and several hundred thousand dollars spent on study, Southern California remains years away from developing an early warning system for earthquakes, according to quake scientists. In the mid-1990s, many public officials and scientists were optimistic about developing such a system for Southern California as early as 2000. The optimism stemmed from the success of a warning system in Mexico City that gave 50 seconds' notice of a major 1995 temblor 190 miles away in the Pacific.

State geologists released maps this week that for the first time identify six seismic hazard zones in Ventura County and are part of a statewide project to hold all builders accountable to the same engineering standards for earthquake safety. The maps show areas at risk from the secondary effects of earthquakes in Fillmore, Ojai, Oxnard, Piru, Port Hueneme and the Rincon Beach area north of Ventura.

Meeting for the first time since the announced discovery of an earthquake fault below the Belmont Learning Complex, members of the Los Angeles school board Tuesday night hinted that building a smaller high school on a less seismically scarred portion of the site might be the least painful alternative. In a 20-minute discussion, Supt. Roy Romer outlined three options for the troubled property near downtown.

The discovery of a minor fault trace running beneath the Belmont Learning Center site is no surprise to Southern California geologists: The entire region is crisscrossed by hundreds of large and small faults, many of them unidentified. "It's very difficult to go to any part of Southern California and find a piece that doesn't have faults cutting through it," said James Dolan, a geologist at USC. "The question is, is the fault active? Most of them probably aren't."

Los Angeles school officials said Wednesday that they will consider abandoning the half-finished and trouble-ridden Belmont Learning Complex because seismologists belatedly discovered a small earthquake fault running directly beneath two buildings of the high school campus.

A seismic hazard map covering a 51-square-mile area in south Orange County--including parts of San Juan Capistrano, Rancho Santo Margarita and Coto de Caza--has been released by the state Department of Conservation. The new Canada Gobernada quadrangle map shows which areas are in danger of landslides or liquefaction in the event of a strong earthquake.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake centered three miles northeast of Yorba Linda early Tuesday was the strongest temblor to hit the Orange County-Los Angeles metropolitan area in more than five years, scientists said. The earthquake struck at 12:08 a.m. and was strong enough to wake some residents in Orange County, the nearby Inland Empire and eastern Los Angeles County, although no major damage or injuries were reported. Scientists at Caltech and the U.S.

A geological fault discovered beneath the sea near Japan poses the threat of generating giant waves, a study reports. Such waves, called tsunamis, could pose a threat to densely populated coastal cities in southwestern Japan. Researchers led by Jin-Oh Park of the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center in Yokohama discovered the fault using a seismic reflection profile, developed by measuring vibrations from the surface that are reflected back by deep rock formations.

When Ron Muranaka paid $564,000 for a stucco Colonial in Yorba Linda with dramatic views of the Chino Hills, he was vaguely aware that the area was earthquake-prone. But so was the rest of California, he figured. Seven years later, his yard cracked apart. Then the driveway split. The living room walls separated and door frames warped. But all that paled next to what happened early one summer morning in 1999: With a roar, much of the backyard slid 40 feet down a cliff.

The most recent earthquake to hit quake-prone Iran shook five provinces, flattened villages, killed 245 people -- and left residents of Iran's capital and population center wondering fearfully what would happen if Tehran were next.